Trump Remains Consistently In Positive Territory In Approval Rating; Why This Matters

President Donald Trump, in his second, nonconsecutive term, is consistently polling in the net positive in approval rating. This early into his term, why is this such a big deal? Aren’t most Presidents viewed favorably in their first month in office?

While it is the case that newly elected Presidents see a positive approval rating early into their term, that wasn’t the case for Trump in his first term. On February 13, 2017, Donald Trump only had a 40% approval rating according to Gallup.

Whether this was because of Mr. Trump’s personality, the relentlessly negative media coverage he received, or a bit of both, Donald Trump was in much lower public standing a month into his first term than he is a month into his second.

Why is this important? Because these polls are showing a resurgent President Trump, a President with the highest approval ratings he has ever had in his political career. When this is the case after the decade of almost exclusively negative coverage of Trump, 95% negative according to some sources, it means that Trump’s political message is resonating.

When this has happened after an attempt to put Donald Trump in jail, multiple impeachments, an assassination attempt, and the aftermath of January 6th, it means Donald Trump has more political capital than ever before.

Despite all of the aforementioned challenges, Donald Trump won every swing state in the 2024 Presidential election, as well as the popular vote. He has the legitimacy and mandate to enact the promises he campaigned on, and he is doing that so far.

American politics is never stagnant, and we cannot predict the future. For that reason, Donald Trump is acting quickly now, when he is at the possible apogee of his political standing. Presidents aren’t dictated based on polls, but they can be strengthened when they are seeing a record high approval.